


There's No Snow In Georgia

by starfleetblues



Series: When It Rains, It Pours [9]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-08
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-31 21:40:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starfleetblues/pseuds/starfleetblues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim just shrugged. “I- I guess. Yeah, I like it, and I’m freaking out because I really want to go to Ole Miss with Bones and-“</p>
<p>“James, you can make new friends. You don’t have to go to Mississippi just because that’s where Leonard is,” Winona said, and he could tell that she was trying to be reassuring.</p>
<p>“But I can’t, Mom, because I love him,” Jim blurted out without thinking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's No Snow In Georgia

**Author's Note:**

> I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS SO MUCH. I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry, especially to all of you I promised fluff. The next several parts are going to be kind of angsty/sad/not entirely fluff or smut, and all I can say is these past few weeks have been hell with swim season winding down, and I've been channeling my anger and feels into this. I'm sorry!  
> As usual, I own no part of the Star Trek Universe, including these characters.

“James, just come with me,” Winona pleaded. “You don’t have to go there, but please just take a look.”

It was the week before Jim’s Christmas break was due to start, and his mother had convinced him to go back to Iowa with her for Grandpa Tiberius’ birthday.

Now, she informed him that she had scheduled a college tour of the nearby Iowa State University, and Jim was steadfastly refusing to go.

“I told you, I want to go to Ole Miss with Bones,” Jim said, arms crossed, leaning back against the wall.

“James, will you come here for a moment?” His grandfather’s voice carried across the house, and Winona smiled wryly.

Jim huffed when he saw his mother’s face and stalked down the hall to see his grandfather.

“What, Grandpa?” Jim was snappier than he intended. “Sorry,” he added as an afterthought. “Didn’t mean to snap at you.”

Tiberius just patted the couch for Jim to sit down. “Son, your mother’s been through a lot in the past. Your dad’s death was hard for her, and she feels guilty for it. Why else do you think she keeps visiting this old guy? Just give her this one thing, okay?”

Jim nodded, feeling even guiltier than before. “Okay, I’ll take a tour with her. You’re right. I’m sorry.” He stood up and made his way back to the kitchen, shrugging into his jacket before apologizing to his mother.

Winona just nodded. “I know. Come on, Jim. We’ll have to hurry.”

 

When they actually got to the campus, though, Jim found that he actually liked the environment, and they offered his major of choice, linguistics. He put on a smile as he trudged across the snow-covered campus, but he was internally panicking. When their tour guide left them back at the lot, Winona was beaming at Jim.

“You like it, don’t you?”

Jim just shrugged. “I- I guess. Yeah, I like it, and I’m freaking out because I really want to go to Ole Miss with Bones and-“

“James, you can make new friends. You don’t have to go to Mississippi just because that’s where Leonard is,” Winona said, and he could tell that she was trying to be reassuring.

“But I _can’t,_ Mom, because I love him,” Jim blurted out without thinking.

The Kirks stared, unblinking at each other for a moment before Jim spoke again. “I love him, mom. We’ve been together since the end of my freshman year, and he loves me too. Please, just… I want to go there and be with him forever.”

Winona sighed and unlocked her car. “Well, that’s one way to get your son to come out, I suppose,” she muttered, more to herself. “I’m sorry, Jim. I didn’t realize that you felt that way. If you really want to go there to be with him, I understand. I’ll stop pressuring you about Iowa. I really am sorry. Now, let’s go back to your grandfather’s home and I’ll make some of your favorite cocoa, okay?”

Jim grinned. “Okay.”

 

“How’d it go?” Grandpa Tiberius’ voice boomed throughout the kitchen as Jim toed his boots off and shrugged, looking over at his mother.

“I don’t think it’d be a good fit for James,” she said. “We’re going to continue looking at Mississippi.”

Jim echoed the thought and wandered upstairs, checking his watch that was still set to Georgia time. It was almost 3, and since it was Thursday, Bones would be out of class soon. He grabbed his laptop and surfed the web until about 3:15 Mississippi time, and opened Skype to call Bones.

“Where are you, kid? And why aren’t you in school?” Leo frowned, not recognizing Jim’s backdrop but realizing the time that indicated that he should have been in school.

Jim laughed. “Nice to see you too, Bones. I’m in Iowa, for Grandpa Tiberius’ birthday. I’ll be home in time to see you, though, no worries.”

“You’d better be! Otherwise, I’ll have to come up there to meet your grandparents,” Leo jokingly threatened.

Jim chuckled, but it was halfhearted, and Leo noticed.

“Jim, is everything okay? You seem kind of… off,” Leo commented warily.

“I… kinda came out to my mom about us,” Jim said slowly. “We were at this college tour thing and she was pressuring me to go to Iowa, instead of Mississippi with you and she told me I could make new friends and not have to stay with you and I- I sort of told her that I loved you.”

“Jim,” Leo paused, searching for the right words and finding that they were exactly what he had been thinking. “It’s okay. Because I love you too, you damn idiot.”

Jim really smiled for the first time all day, and Leo’s grin matched it. “I can’t wait to see you,” he admitted.

“Me neither. I miss you more than anything,” Leo confessed. “But I have my last final tomorrow, and I should probably at least review a little bit. I’ll call you later, darlin’, I promise.”

“Okay,” Jim said, trying to not show how disappointed he was. “Talk to you then.” He was the first to end the call, and he felt bad later for resenting Bones over such a small thing.

He felt better when Leo texted him later. ‘Love you, kid. Really.’

‘Love you too, Bones. I’ll see you Saturday.’

 

But Jim didn’t see Leo Saturday, because he met his boyfriend at the train station Friday night. Despite not having a car, Jim did have his license, and the McCoys had told him to take Leo’s old Chevy up to the station to meet him while they cleaned the house back up.

Leo flung himself into Jim’s arms when he saw the blond.

“Thought I wasn’t gonna see you ‘till tomorrow,” he stated, muffled a little by Jim’s shoulder.

“Nah,” Jim said. “Your parents told me to take your car to come get you. Here I am.”

Leo pulled back from the hug to kiss Jim quickly- despite the late hour, this _was_ Georgia, and it was a public environment. “Let’s head home,” he mumbled, stifling a yawn and picking his bags up off the floor.

“Definitely,” Jim agreed, reaching over to snag the duffel hanging off Leo’s shoulder, leaving him with just a rolling suitcase and his feeble protests that Jim blithely ignored.

“I can carry my own damn bag!” Leo argued when they reached the car.

Jim just rolled his eyes. “We’re already at the car anyway, Bones. Can’t I just be nice to you?”

Leo turned red. “I know, but I don’t want you thinking you have to do stuff for me. Especially carrying my stuff.”

Jim leaned over to kiss him quickly. “I know, but I wanted to. What else are boyfriends for? Besides sex,” he added as an afterthought, and Leo jokingly punched his shoulder.

“C’mon, you. I’m ready to go to bed, so take me home.”

 

Jim pulled up in Leo’s driveway not half an hour later, and shut the car off, snagging one last kiss before hopping out to unload. Leo took the keys back and went to unlock the front door, but it swung open before he could get to it, his mother hugging him again. Jim hung back, making a show of adjusting the strap of the duffel bag he had insisted on taking again on his shoulder and closing the trunk, making it up to the door just as Eleanora released her son from the hug. “And Jim,” she said, turning to the blond. “Thank you for going to get Leo. It made my night so much easier.”

“It’s no problem, Mrs. M,” Jim said with a shrug. “It was nice to see him again. I uh, I should probably head home and let you guys catch up. I’ll see you tomorrow, Bones.”

“See you then, Jim,” Leo called as Jim retreated from the homey environment.

“Leo, can we talk?” Eleanora’s voice wasn’t the same light tone it had been when she had first greeted her son. It was laced with sadness this time.

“Of course, Ma,” Leo said, unsure of what this was about. “Look, if this is about-“

“Your father’s dying, Leo. I’m so sorry to tell you this right after you’ve gotten home, but he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer not long after you left.”

Leo sat down hard in the nearby chair. “What?”

Eleanora nodded. “I’m so sorry, Leo. That’s why he didn’t come for you.”

“I’m going to go for a walk,” Leo said abruptly. “I just… need a minute.”

He found himself texting Jim as soon as he stepped out of the house. ‘Can I come see you?’

The reply was immediate. ‘Of course. Use the key under the pot again. I’m in my room. Mom and Frank are asleep.’

Leo was incredibly thankful for his boyfriend at that moment. He slipped inside the dark house and padded up the stairs, to where he saw Jim’s light shining through the open doorway. Hesitantly, he leaned against the doorway and knocked softly, to alert Jim that he was there.

“Hey, Bones- Bones? Are you okay?”

Leo guessed that his face betrayed him, and he slowly shook his head.

“Hey, c’mere,” Jim said, getting up to wrap him in a hug, Leo burrowing into his bare shoulder. “What happened?”

“My- my dad. He’s got pancreatic cancer.” Leo’s voice shook. “Jim, I’m gonna lose my dad and there’s nothin’ I can do about it.”

Jim didn’t say anything, just guided his boyfriend to the bed and held him until the sobs stopped wracking his body.

“I never told you about my dad.” Jim said softly once the sobs had subsided to sniffles. “I never told you why I have a stepdad.”

“’S not my business,” Leo mumbled into Jim’s chest. “Didn’t wanna intrude.”

“He died the day I was born. My brother was at his soccer game, and my dad was staying to watch. Mom was due in the next week or so, so she stayed home. Her water broke, and she called my dad at the game. He asked one of the other parents to take Sam home, and left to meet her at the hospital. On his way, a car ran a red light and smashed into the driver’s side. He was killed instantly. They never caught the driver.”

Leo reached up to press a soft kiss to Jim’s lips. “I’m so sorry, truly. I can’t imagine how hard that was for your family.”

Jim merely shrugged and dropped a kiss onto Leo’s soft hair. “Go to sleep, baby. Everything’s gonna be okay, I promise.”

Somehow, Leo believed him and snuggled deeper into Jim’s chest. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not going to be answering comments till Saturday night or Sunday, most likely, because I have a swim team party tonight and a championship swim meet Saturday, and plan to go see the new Thor film with some friends. Please don't hate me for this!


End file.
